In the News...

Growing up in Iran I know too well the impact of unchecked government surveillance. Even as a small child, I had to worry about what I said and asked over the phone because the government could be listening and might use what I said against my family. So when I found out that AT&T and Verizon have been handing over information about millions of customers’ calls to the National Security Agency (NSA) I was outraged.

Six consumer watchdog groups have asked the Federal Trade Commission to block the changes that they say would make it far easier for the company to use the names, images and personal information of its nearly 1.2 billion users -- including teens -- to endorse products in ads without their consent.

A coalition of six major consumer privacy groups has asked the Federal Trade Commission to block coming changes to Facebook’s privacy policies that they say would make it easier for the social network to use personal data about its users, including children under 18, in advertising on the site.

A day after the Obama administration announced it would start releasing annual reports on the government’s surveillance activity, Microsoft said it plans to continue its legal fight for permission to produce more detailed breakdowns of government information requests.

"The emerging dispute between Netflix and Comcast underscores the core weakness of the Internet economy. To reach the multitude of online services competing for your attention, you must first get through a bottleneck that is not competitive at all: high-speed broadband access."

Telecom watchdog groups said federal regulators should scrutinize any such plan. It could give the carriers too much power to pick winners and losers in the apps world, particularly if the terms are more favorable to a select few, they said.

"The choice is simple for the FCC and the U.S. Department of Justice: Stop this merger now. If it is allowed to happen it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recreate a competitive wireless market."

AT&T is lining up support for its acquisition of T-Mobile from a slew of liberal groups with no obvious interest in telecom deals — except that they’ve received big piles of AT&T’s cash. Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56660.html#ixzz1OzfkZFlI

"Opposition is steadily growing to AT&T Inc.'s proposed $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA, as competitors, state regulators and elected officials have come out in recent days expressing concerns about the acquisition from Deutsche Telekom AG. "

In the News...

After more than a decade of debate and a record-setting proceeding that attracted nearly 4 million public comments, the time to settle the Net Neutrality question has arrived. This week, I will circulate to the members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed new rules to preserve the internet as an open platform for innovation and free expression.

A group of investors, concerned about the role of telephone companies in government spying operations, last month pushed Verizon and AT&T Inc to disclose details on their sharing of customer information with governments.

Verizon said it will publish reports beginning early next year on the number of government requests it receives for customer data, setting a significant precedent for the telecommunications industry, which has kept that information private.

"Companies such as IBM, AT&T and Verizon Communications are facing angry shareholders, some of whom have filed lawsuits demanding that the companies disclose their participation in NSA intelligence programs."

"A federal district judge ruled that the National Security Agency program that is systematically keeping records of all Americans’ phone calls most likely violates the Constitution, describing its technology as “almost Orwellian” and suggesting that James Madison would be “aghast” to learn that the government was encroaching on liberty in such a way."

The Open MIC Blog

Investors in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) today welcomed the Federal Communications Commission’s adoption of new network neutrality rules and urged Verizon to do the same by publicly committing not to initiate or support litigation that would undercut the rules.

The investors also urged Verizon to carefully weigh the risks presented by the company’s continuing opposition to the FCC’s network neutrality principles. A shareholder proposal asking Verizon’s board to report on those risks is scheduled to be voted on at the company’s annual meeting in May.

Investors in Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) are once again pressing the company’s board of directors to report on the business risks arising from the company’s opposition to open Internet and network neutrality principles. A shareholder proposal which last year won 26.4% of the shareholder vote – representing $30.6 billion of Verizon shares – has been resubmitted for consideration at Verizon’s 2015 annual meeting.